Role-Playing
Students Impressed By Youth and Government Program
BRISTOL — Students from Newfound Regional High School described their participation in the YMCA’s Youth and Government program as a positive educational experience that they encourage others to take part in.
The program brings teenagers together in state-organized model-government programs in which participants immerse themselves in “experiential civic engagement, debate issues that affect citizens in their state, and even propose legislation”, culminating in them serving as delegates at their state conference and debating bills on the floor of the legislature.
High School Social Studies teacher Tyler Breckinridge brought the Youth and Government program to Newfound last year, and he said the goal is to teach students “exactly how the government works out…. I’m talking representatives in the House, senators in the Senate, and we use the actual New Hampshire Capitol, so they are sitting in the same seats your reps and senators you voted to send to Concord are sitting in today”.
In partnership with the Plymouth Regional School District, Newfound students choose candidates for the Senate, the House of Representatives, the governor, and the Executive Council.
“A lot of our students did so well this year, they were chosen between themselves and Plymouth to represent our district,” Breckinridge said. “They are competing with 23 other high schools from all across the state.”